Gugulethu Explained

Gugulethu
Pushpin Map:	South Africa Western Cape#South Africa#Africa
Coordinates:	-33.9833°N 52°W
Subdivision Type:	Country
Subdivision Name:	South Africa
Subdivision Type1:	Province
Subdivision Name1:	Western Cape
Subdivision Type2:	District
Subdivision Type3:	Municipality
Subdivision Name3:	City of Cape Town
Subdivision Type4:	Main Place
Subdivision Name4:	Cape Town
Established Title:	Established
Leader Party:	DA
Leader Title:	Councillor
Leader Name:	Melody Klaas (ANC) (Ward 40) (Belinda) Ntombende Landingwe (Ward 41) (ANC) Mandisa Matshoba (Ward 42) (ANC) Faiza Adams (Ward 45)
Area Footnotes:	^[1]
Area Total Km2:	6.49
Population Total:	98468
Population As Of:	2011
Population Density Km2:	auto
Demographics Type1:	Racial makeup (2011)
Demographics1 Title1:	Black African
Demographics1 Info1:	98.6%
Demographics1 Title2:	Coloured
Demographics1 Info2:	0.9%
Demographics1 Title3:	Indian/Asian
Demographics1 Info3:	0.1%
Demographics1 Title4:	White
Demographics1 Title5:	Other
Demographics1 Info5:	0.4%
Demographics Type2:	First languages (2011)
Demographics2 Title1:	Xhosa
Demographics2 Info1:	88.6%
Demographics2 Title2:	English
Demographics2 Info2:	3.6%
Demographics2 Title3:	Sotho
Demographics2 Info3:	1.9%
Demographics2 Title4:	Afrikaans
Demographics2 Info4:	1.7%
Demographics2 Title5:	Other
Demographics2 Info5:	4.2%
Timezone1:	SAST
Utc Offset1:	+2
Postal Code Type:	Postal code (street)
Postal Code:	7750, 7752, 7756
Postal2 Code Type:	PO box
Area Code Type:	Area code

Gugulethu is a township in Western Cape, South Africa and is around 20km from Cape Town.^[2] Its name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride / our hope. The township was established along with Nyanga in the 1960s.^[3]

History

The name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride/ our hope. Gugulethu, along with Nyanga, was established in the 1960s due to the overcrowding of Langa, which was the only black residential area for Cape Town at the time. During the Apartheid era, black South Africans were not permitted to live in the city of Cape Town, and many people were removed from areas such as District Six to Gugulethu, Nyanga, and Langa. The predominant language in Gugulethu is Xhosa. Gugulethu is passionately called or referred to as "Gugs" by the locals, which is a nickname stemming from the shortening of the name Gugulethu.

Black residents living in Windermere were forcibly moved to Gugulethu when it was declared a black township. Windermere was declared by Apartheid regime to be a colored area.^[4]

Gugulethu was one of the first townships in Cape Town to have a community information technology Center to provide training in multimedia and youth development.^[5]

Places of interest

The 'Gugulethu Seven Memorial' was built to commemorate the life of seven activists that were ambushed and killed by the South African security forces on March 3, 1986. The activists were members of uMkhonto weSizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).^[6] The seven murdered were Jabulani Godfery Miya, Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke, John Konile, and Christopher Piet. On Human Rights Day 2000, the memorial was unveiled.^[7]

• The Cape Town Jazz Safari is a tour which highlights musical history and jazz in Gugulethu.^[8]
• Gugulethu Square was created in 2009 as a central business district in the township.^{[9] [10]}
• Gugulethu Indoor Sports Complex is an indoor all year round community facility.^[11]
• Mzoli's is a butchery in Gugulethu. Customers buy meat that is cooked on the spot and accompanied by music. It is stated that it attracts about 30,000 people in a single weekend.^{[12] [8]}
• Maboneng Township Arts Experience in Gugulethu and Langa. Tours that turn homes into art galleries where local artists and crafters turn their homes into art galleries. This is an entrepreneurship project.^[13]
• Ntonga Music School – in Gugulethu. ^[14]

Notable people

• Loyiso Gola, stand-up comedian
• Ayabulela Konqobe, footballer
• Sindiwe Magona, author^[15]
• Abigail Mbalo-Mokoena, restaurateur
• Mandisa Monakali, the founder and executive director of Ilitha Labantu
• Bantu Mzwakali, footballer
• Thando Mngomeni, former South Africa national football team player
• Siv Ngesi, actor, comedian, presenter
• Nobulumko Nkondlo, politician, Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
• Ray Ntlokwana, actor
• Jonathan Ntutu, para-athlete & paralympian, South Africa's fastest ever para-athlete
• Tony Yengeni, politician, former Chief Whip of the African National Congress

Crime

According to data collected by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) over 700 people were murdered in Gugulethu between 2005 and 2010. "This amounts to one murder every two-and-a-half days for five consecutive years."^[16]

In a 2017 study of the 50 most violent cities in the world, Cape Town ranked number 15. Latin America cities ranked the highest with having 42 cities. Brazil having 17, Mexico 12, and Venezuela having five.^[17]

Notable incidents

• In March 1986, South Africa's Apartheid security murdered seven young black men. The incident became known as The Gugulethu Seven. The seven men were: Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Godfrey Jabulani Miya, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke John Konile and Christopher "Rasta" Piet. They were members of the military wing of the African National Congress known as Umkhonto we Sizwe.^[18]
• In 2017, Major-General Andre Lincoln stated during his testimony while under cross-examination in the Western Cape High Court that police officers removed evidence from the scenes of government-ordered crimes such as The Gugulethu Seven in the 1980s.^{[19] [20]}
• In August 1993, Gugulethu was the site of the violent murder of a young white American woman, Amy Biehl, in the upheaval following the official end of apartheid and before the multi-racial election of 1994.^[21] In 1998, four men were convicted of Amy's murder. They were pardoned by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Ms. Biehl's family supported the release of the four men. They started the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in the townships to work with youth. The foundation's goal to empower young disadvantaged youth by using education and culture to deter crime and drugs. An Amy Biehl Memorial site was created in Gugulethu and tours into the township to see the memorial and visit some of the schools where programs were created by the Amy Biehl Foundation.
• In November 2010, Swedish tourist Anni Dewani was murdered in Gugulethu while on her honeymoon.^[22] Anni Dewani's husband became a suspect in the trial of her murder. He fought a three-and-a-half-year battle against extradition to South Africa. Accusations and confusions by the accused suspects in the murder that the car-jacking and crime were staged by the billionaire husband Shrien Dewani.
• On June 10, 2014, 62-year-old Mbuyiselo Manona was murdered in Gugulethu by Andrew Chimboza. Chimboza stabbed Manona multiple times. Various news outlets stated that Andrew ate Manona's heart. Chimboza denied it.^{[23] [24]} Chimboza pleaded guilty at the Western Cape High Court of stabbing Mbuyiselo Manona. He did not mention in court anything about removing or eating Manona's heart.^{[25] [26] [27]}
• On the evening of the 2 November 2020 the Gugulethu massacre took place at a home in NY78 in which 8 people died and one was injured.^{[28] [29]}

Organisations and projects in Gugulethu

• Treatment Action Campaign
• Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

See also

• The Gugulethu Seven

Notes and References

1. Web site: Main Place Gugulethu . Census 2011.
2. Busgeeth . Karishma . Rivett . Ulrike . 2004-07-07 . The use of a spatial information system in the management of HIV/AIDS in South Africa . International Journal of Health Geographics . 3 . 1 . 13 . 10.1186/1476-072X-3-13 . 1476-072X . 471560 . 15239839 . free.
3. Web site: Gugulethu Township . www.sahistory.org.za. 2019-12-27.
4. Web site: Gugulethu Township. Leander. 8 November 2013.
5. Web site: Gugulethu. www.sa-venues.com.
6. Web site: Gugulethu Township. Leander. 8 November 2013.
7. Web site: Gugulethu Seven Memorial. www.sa-venues.com.
8. Web site: Gugulethu, Cape Town: The Official Guide. 18 January 2018.
9. Web site: Gugulethu Square - Home. Gugulethu Square.
10. Web site: Gugulethu Gets Large Shopping Mall - Property24.com. www.property24.com.
11. Web site: Gugulethu Sports Centre - Noero Architects. www.noeroarchitects.com.
12. Web site: Directions from Cape Town to Mzoli's in Gugulethu. www.capetownmagazine.com.
13. Web site: Maboneng Township Arts Experience. www.sa-venues.com.
14. Web site: Visiting Ntonga Music School In Gugulethu South Africa - Playing for Change. 15 June 2012.
15. Web site: Celebrating 8 of the Most Influential Black South African Women Writers. 25 July 2016.
16. News: Over 700 murders in Gugulethu since 2005 . Sapa . Mail & Guardian . 16 November 2010 . 19 November 2010.
17. Web site: These were the 50 most violent cities in the world in 2017. Business Insider.
18. Web site: Remembering the Gugulethu Seven. www.capetownmagazine.com. en. 2019-12-27.
19. Web site: Apartheid security police lured youth 'to their slaughter' - ex-Mandela cop. News24.
20. Web site: Apartheid-era police officers 'decorated' for violent acts - ex-Mandela cop. News24.
21. News: Amy Biehl Was a Casualty of the System . Jan Herman. Los Angeles Times. 27 January 1994.
22. News: Dewani trial: what really happened and how did police get it so wrong? . Dan Newling. . 8 December 2014.
23. Web site: 'Rehabilitation of cannibal killer unlikely'. Siyabonga. Sesant.
24. News: CTown man alive when heart ripped out – cop . The Citizen . 7 October 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150319070047/http://citizen.co.za/208430/ctwon-man-alive-heart-ripped-cop/ . March 19, 2015 .
25. Web site: Gugulethu 'heart eater' pleads guilty to murder. 2 February 2015.
26. Web site: 'Cannibal' sentenced to 18 years. Yolisa. Tswanya. www.iol.co.za.
27. Web site: 'Cannibal' was coerced into ripping out heart, court hears. News24.
28. Web site: 'Boko Haram' vs 'Guptas': winner-takes-all battle behind Gugulethu shooting. 2020-11-04. TimesLIVE. en-ZA.
29. Web site: Fisher. Shamiela. Gugulethu mass shooting death toll rises to 8, police still hunting shooters. 2020-11-04. ewn.co.za. en.